A laugh riot, but…. Review on Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani

Get your expectations right, and APKGK is a movie that you will enjoy.

A bit about the story – Prem(Ranbir) is a good-for-nothing nice young soul(now that sounds very familiar, right?), who is the President of Happy Club, a club of a few youngsters who are completely broke. He meets Katrina, falls in love with her, but realises it’s not such an easy task to get her to fall in love with him. Difficult to reveal more of the plot for those who haven’t seen the movie.

First, the negatives of the movie. The movie is funny in most parts, but gets serious once in a while. The transition from comedy to serious stuff is not always smooth and seamless(like in the beginning when Prem is arguing with his father with some funny lines and suddenly finds himself out of his house!). In general, the movie does fluctuate between serious and comedy at different times, which slacken the pace of the picture now and then.

After accounting for the above, and the fact that very often, the characters and the story will be silly, we can sit back and enjoy the ride thoroughly. The script, though not as tight as Andaz Apna Apna, is surely geared to make us laugh, at times rather aloud. The movie keeps us laughing every now and then and towards the climax, throws us in raptures. Just for this, I would want to buy a DVD to watch it again and again. It is to be noted that most comedies these days rely on a ultra-funny climax, starting from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Andaz Apna Apna, Hungama, Hera Pheri, Phir Hera Pheri etc etc – but some of them succeed and others don't. This one surely does.

Ranbir is brilliant, and with this movie, is an actor who has truly arrived in Bollywood. Katrina is good. Ranbir’s father in the movie has done a good job and we have a villain who is quite funny, the way he plays his character. The movie freely borrows from the earlier laugh riot of Rajkumar Santoshi, Andaz Apna Apna(made 15 years back!) but we are not complaining. It’s his way of reminding us of the earlier laughs we had then and its great to do so all over again.

But it’s important to remember that this movie is not in the same league as AAA. Why not? Well, this has one star that has done a great job in my view, which is Ranbir with good support from Katrina. AAA had Aamir, Salman, Paresh Rawal, Shakti Kapoor(and even Viju Khote and Javed Khan for that matter) who came up with great performances. This movie oscillates between serious and funny whereas AAA was an out and out comedy.

So, don’t expect a logical movie, don’t expect Andaz Apna Apna – 2, and enjoy the movie….